How many bikes should you own?

Vélo

What in everyone's opinion is the correct amount bikes someone should own?

I have 4 but they are for different styles of riding.

Here they are

Road Bike
MTB Bike
Fixie
Tourer/Winter commuter

I think I'm doing well with 4 seeing as I only bought me 1st bike in June 2008.

I'm really only sticking this thread up to see how mad some people really are, so I'm looking forward to the responses.

ednwireland

as many as possible

i have winter trainer and mtb and prob. getting a focus cayo in the next week or so

also got piles of bits and and italian road frame from the 80's, which is out of commision

newest bike is the mtb bought in the mid 90's (recently resprayed and rebuilt)

CheGuedara

I still like the answer 'Just one more'

That said I've a road bike, training bike and a HT MTB - but if left go over time I know there'd be a TT/Tri, FS MTB, Ti road bike... all taking up residence in the shed

(it's a good thing moneys tight and there's a small limit on the credit card really)

RobFowl

ednwireland wrote: »

as many as possible

5 myself
Road x2 (1 for training/hilly sportif's and 1 for racing)
MTB
Xcrosser
Fixed for commuting

You need spare wheels as well :rolleyes:

seamus

As many as you can fit in your home.

rottenhat

Two minimum - one decent road bike, and one for knocking around town on. Can't imagine really putting in the miles to justify more than that, and I hardly use the fixed gear at all. That said, the unjustifiable third bike is in the works.

CheGuedara

RobFowl wrote: »

You need spare wheels as well :rolleyes:

True, so true.... and there's another obsession by itself

And at that one needs wheels for every other scenario - something light and fast for hilly routes (Ksyriums etc), aero section for the flatter, faster days (Cosmics etc) and on days that deserve them Zipps (some day, some day (pending a lotto win))

Chips Lovell

I've three. Road, track and crappy "lock to a lamp post mountain bike". Wouldn't mind adding a TT bike to the mix.

unionman

Ideally, a fleet.

I have three, road, fixed and POS for meetings about town.

Would happily add a few more fixed gear bikes to the collection, a retro steel framed road bike and a clutch of high nelly / Pashley / Dutch styled bikes kitted out for child transportation.

But money, space, time and practical considerations are all conspiring against the realisation of my dream!!

beans

I own 3 at the minute; a good road-bike, a fixie conversion for commuting, and a single-speed mtb which in reality doubles as a clothes-hanger.

I could see myself adding a BMX and a rain/training road-bike to that mix... so 5-bikes would be the sweet-spot for me

alfalad

I have one but ideally if i had time to ride them all and started to do some proper training and race a little i would have the following;

1. High end road bike for races.
2. High end TT bike for races.
3. Training road bike for mid week training spins. With optional TT bars or else a training TT bike.
4. High end sportive bike (more comfy for the ROK etc)
5. Full sus carbon mounatin bike for the occasional trip off road.
6. Touring bike for trips abroad.
7. Nice "town bike" (fixie/single speed etc.)

That would do nicely although i will never own all the above and certainly never at once. as it is i can only fit one bike in the apartment.

As said couple of sets of wheels to cover the varying conditions.

kona

1. Race spec XC hardtail.
2. ALL Mountain Full bounce.
3. Dirt Jumper


Cant be arsed with 700c:p

rottenhat

kona wrote: »

Cant be arsed with 700c:p

Burn the heretic!

Lumen

I think I could reasonably limit it to 12:

Road race bike
TT race bike
Track race bike
Posh winter trainer
S&S-coupled sportive travel bike
Disc-braked cross bike (for fun and non-UCI events)
Conventionally-braked cross bike (for UCI events)
Posh fixie (Mercian etc)
Family bike
Tandem
Downhill MTB
XC MTB

I'm obviously neglecting the touring bike, cargo bike, cruiser and Dutch city bike but you have to stop somewhere. And recumbents are not bikes.

With that stable at my disposal, I'd obviously commute on the full susser.

Idleater

kona wrote: »

1. Race spec XC hardtail.
2. ALL Mountain Full bounce.
3. Dirt Jumper


Cant be arsed with 700c:p

I have
1x 1995 HT MTB (~XT) - now used with a spare set of wheels (slicks) as a commuter.
1x 2001 Road (Duraace) - nice weather commuter
1x 2008 FS-XC (XTR) - not willing to commute this yet.

Don't bother with POS BSO's (yet) as I choose to walk to the shops at the moment.

Poncherello

Vélo wrote: »

What in everyone's opinion is the correct amount bikes someone should own?

I have 4 but they are for different styles of riding.

Here they are

Road Bike
MTB Bike
Fixie
Tourer/Winter commuter

I think I'm doing well with 4 seeing as I only bought me 1st bike in June 2008.

I'm really only sticking this thread up to see how mad some people really are, so I'm looking forward to the responses.

well so far i would say you are the maddest !

How much have you spent in the past year ?!

rottenhat

I'd have to say I endorse the Bike Snob rule of thumb that you shouldn't own a (stable of) bike(s) that cost more dollars than you ride miles a year.

Obviously the euro per km exchange rate favours us a bit on this one.

Vélo

Poncherello wrote: »

well so far i would say you are the maddest !

How much have you spent in the past year ?!

The Fixie was a christmas present form my wife.
The tourer was on the cycle to work scheme, the company paid for it. (I'll pay them back sometime).
The MTB I bought over a few months on E-bay bit by bit except for the groupset where I bought it in a shop and got them to put it on.
The road bike only cost me €1250 from wiggle even though they were on sale here for €2,200 at the time.

The bikes were probaby the cheap part though, it's all the other crap that goes with cycling is the expensive part.:eek:

Gavin

3 bikes.

A road bike.
A mountain bike.
A commuting bike.

blorg

Needs a poll really. I am at seven, down from eight as I sold my previous road bike to Lumen (I don't need two road bikes, that would be superfluous.)

Road - Lightspeed Archon
Tourer - Van Nicholas Amazon
MTB - Focus Raven Expert
Fixie - Giant Bowery
Commuter - Specialized Tricross Fixed
Hack - Dawes Discovery 201
Don't really need any more - Specialized Sirrus converted to drops... will either sell or try giving cyclocross a go on it (the Amazon might be better for that though if I was taking it semi-seriously.)

Lumen

blorg wrote: »

Fixie - Giant Bowery
Commuter - Specialized Tricross Fixed
Hack - Dawes Discovery 201

Unnecessary overlap there. Surely a single hack fixie commuter would do?

DualFrontDiscs

Four for me:

15 year old Dawes Super Galaxy, currently undergoing restoration
10 year old Gary Fisher Big Sur, used now to pull a BOB trailer
5 year old Litespeed Blue Ridge, now main road/ touring bike
6 month old Christiania Cargo trike, used for carrying the kids/ shopping, etc.

Used to have a cruiser. Kinda lost it

Would like a hack fixie too.

n-dawg

My list is quite modest

1. TT race bike
2. Fast commuter (road bike)

But my list to buy when I pay off bank loans is

1. Nice road racer
2. XC bike (For a bit of variation in training)
3. cyclocross bike (Always though this looked like fun)[will prob replace my commuter]

blorg

Lumen wrote: »

Unnecessary overlap there. Surely a single hack fixie commuter would do?

No, big difference between fast training/spin fixie and commuter fixie. Hack bike is there for the situations where I might be leaving the bike out in town for a while and I wouldn't want to leave one of my fixed bikes there. I don't ride it very often TBH.

I am working on testing the load carrying capacity of aerobars, quite impressed so far.

Vélo

blorg wrote: »

No, big difference between fast training/spin fixie and commuter fixie. Hack bike is there for the situations where I might be leaving the bike out in town for a while and I wouldn't want to leave one of my fixed bikes there. I don't ride it very often TBH.

I am working on testing the load carrying capacity of aerobars, quite impressed so far.

Extra euro points for you, The bottles even match the colour of the bike!!

Idleater

rottenhat wrote: »

I'd have to say I endorse the Bike Snob rule of thumb that you shouldn't own a (stable of) bike(s) that cost more dollars than you ride miles a year.

Obviously the euro per km exchange rate favours us a bit on this one.

Technically I'd be in agreement with you, but as I probably fit into this category (for now), but the way I'm looking at it, I cycle more now than I would if my stable would contain the same bikes but the hack BSO variant thereof.

Neither my HT or Road bike owe me anything now, and the new FS is to rekindle my interest in cycling.

FergusF

7 at the moment:

1. Old steel Raleigh racer with hub gear, cruiser handlebars and a massive Brooks B33 saddle, a home built lightweight 'high nellie'
2. Brompton 3 speed, very handy for combined train / bike trips.
3. Fuji touring, winter hack / training
4. Dahon MU XL, fun town / shopping bike
5. Kona Smoke, great for trails and load carrying
6. Racer: Old lugged steel Zeus racer with some modern parts.
7. Latest toy: ICE B1 recumbent - not sure if this counts as a bike :-) but it's great fun, fast and very comfy.

I am really liking the recumbent, might look into getting a sportier one in future but I have run out of space, need to get rid of some of the others first!

peterk19

as many as you can afford I'm at 6 at the moment,

Alu Road bike (Trek 1200)
Carbon Road Bike (Ridley Noah)
Old Mountain Bike (GT Avalanche 3)
Good Mountain Bike (Trek 6500)
Hub Geared (Carerra Subway)
Fixie (70 Touring frame)

Hopefully i will have a few more as i have an old road frame to be built up and want to get a carbon TT bike and a Ti road bike next year

blorg

I would definitely get a recumbent if they weren't so expensive, they look like great fun and are very fast by all accounts, at least on the flat where they have all the human powered speed records.

Raam

blorg wrote: »

I would definitely get a recumbent if they weren't so expensive, they look like great fun and are very fast by all accounts, at least on the flat where they have all the human powered speed records.

If you do, I'll never talk to you again... ever

blorg

This would also be cool. First human powered aircraft to cross the English Channel. 300w required to keep it up apparently.

thebouldwhacker

Would it still be classed as cycling or is it flying?

could you get one on the cycle to work scheme?

I have a roadie, an mtb and 2 old workhorse bikes I'm fixing up as his and hers touring bikes.

Lumen

thebouldwhacker wrote: »

Could you get one on the cycle to work scheme?

Nice idea.

FergusF

Raam wrote: »

If you do, I'll never talk to you again... ever

ha ha, I guess recumbents (and their riders) would pretty much break all the 'euro' rules alright - I don't have grey hair or a beard or sandals but still look pretty odd on it I suppose...

Anyway having owned a lot of different bikes over many years it was something I always wanted to try so finally bit the bullet a couple of months ago & ordered one.

I am not too confident in heavy traffic on it, and a bit slower uphill than on an upright, but the feeling of acceleration on even the slightest downhill with very little effort is amazing.

They are great fun alright, try one if you get a chance, just be prepared for plenty of attention! Too bad they are still a niche market which keeps the prices high, as blorg pointed out.

kenmc

blorg wrote: »

No, big difference between fast training/spin fixie and commuter fixie. Hack bike is there for the situations where I might be leaving the bike out in town for a while and I wouldn't want to leave one of my fixed bikes there. I don't ride it very often TBH.

I am working on testing the load carrying capacity of aerobars, quite impressed so far.

FAIL.
Too much coke and not enough no vodka.

niceonetom

kenmc wrote: »

FAIL.
Too much coke and not enough no vodka.

Coke Zero is an autofail as well.

Vélo

niceonetom wrote: »

Coke Zero is an autofail as well.

Also too much black.

Maybe there should be more white coke:eek:

niceonetom

If we started listing all the wrongness that blorg, in sandals, on an aerobarred bowery, entails we'd be here forever.

Chips Lovell

I think he's gunning to make it onto BikeSnobNYC

Lumen

el tonto wrote: »

I think he's gunning to make it onto BikeSnobNYC

Indeed, with a bit more aero gear and a proper mullet he could be Dublin's Lone Wolf.

Caroline_ie

I'd like one of each like Lumen's mad list ... but I haver limited space ...

I have
- Carbon Road Bike
- Alu winter Road bike
- Fixie
- MTB ( brand new )

I also used my fixie with different accessories for track racing this year... it worked well

Captain Havoc

About Robin Williams:

Robin rides about 100 miles a week on one of his 50 bikes.

Is that enough for every possible scenario?

DJsail

nowhere near enough!